Ali Grace (aka Punky)

My sweet Ali.....

Where have the last 8 1/2 months gone....you are the sweetest little thing there ever was. I could smell your crazy addictive smell all day long, and squeeze your chubby little body constantly. There is no way I can get enough of you. You have completely and totally captured your entire family's hearts. Your big brothers are absolutely in love with you. They love to make you giggle and squeal. Your eyes light up and a huge grin covers your face when you spot one of them. It's absolutely precious.

I used to say you were a total momma's girl but you've really got a thing for your daddy now too. You love to 'wrestle' and cuddle with daddy and you just canNOT control yourself when he beat boxes for you. You loooooove to dance and shake your head to daddy's silly songs. Lately:

- you've started to crawl. The funniest part is you never army crawled, never scooted, barely even rolled and one day you just went from a sitting position to all fours and started crawling around the room. You are one of a kind!

- you have one little tooth but can eat like a big girl! You never even ate baby food. I mushed things up for a couple weeks and then switched straight to table food. Some of your favorites are: spaghetti, toast with butter, green beans, and grilled chicken breast. Crazy baby!!

- you are very quiet...hmm, wonder how long that will last? You have daddy's laid back/chill personality. You only talk when YOU feel like talking. Most days you're very quiet and content. But, if you're in a mood, watch out cuz you can yell and chat with the best of 'em.

- you sleep through the night like a champ. It took some crying and working with you but you are SUCH a good little sleeper.

We are having so much fun watching you change every day. God knew what he was doing when he brought a little Miss into this family full of boys. They're all head over heals for you. And I? Well, I can't imagine life without you.....



leaving the hospital



3 weeks old





8 months old

And we finally have snow! The boys are very excited yet very, very bummed that they can't really go outside and play in it since the high is 12 degrees. Just a bit cold. They certainly don't think so, but I beg to differ.

We had a very fun weekend! Friday night we got together with our Small Group and had our annual Christmas party! It was lots of fun. We always do a White Elephant gift exchange and every year people never cease to amaze me at what they can come up with. Hilarious stuff!

Then Saturday Scott spent the morning in the freezing (but very pretty) falling snow, cutting wood for our fireplace with some friends from work. When he got home we rested for awhile and then got ready for our 2nd Christmas party of the weekend. Saturday night we spent the evening with some more great friends at a super fun Wine and Cheese party. It was filled with tons of laughing, good wine and really super yummy food! Doesn't get much more relaxing than that! The weather was terrible but we braved it anyway! We hardly EVER get out without our kids and it was well, well worth the treacherous drive!!! (for those grandmas who are reading - we were totally fine. we took Scott's truck and never had a problem! ;))

And then yesterday was the boys' Christmas Program at church. It was very cute! I'll upload some pictures soon. Reed never even looked up, he messed with a "Silly Band" the entire time his class was supposed to be singing. I mean seriously, he acted like he had no clue where he was and no idea that there were 100 people watching him. It was quite funny. Drew did good but wasn't exactly thrilled about the whole thing. He quietly sang the songs and sort-of-kind-of did some of the actions. Oh my boys, they're funny!!

I'll leave you with a recent picture of all 3 of them. I think they're pretty cute! ;)
Or NOT! Have I ever told you how much I hate this computer? UGH! Can't a picture to upload. I'll try again later!

Where does the time go?

I can hardly believe our little Ali is already 6 months old! It seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital so excited to finally meet her. Although, at the same time it seems so long ago, the last 6 months just kind of blurred by! I hate that! Sometimes I wish I could just stop time altogether and just "be"...so much easier said than done! She is so much fun! Just yesterday I was telling Scott (while trying not to bawl my eyes out) that there is just "something about her"....I'm not sure if it's because she'll be our last or if it's because she's a girl, or what. But, there is just something about her that is different than the boys. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys and they bring me so much joy. But, I don't remember feeling like "this" when they were babies. I'm not sure why. There's just a connection I have with her that I can't explain. I could snuggle and "talk" with her all.day.long and be perfectly happy! She is my little "punky"!

I shoulda known better......

So, I have a lot going on these days. They're all good things and I like to be busy but things can also get a little overwhelming at times......hence the statement above "I shoulda known better".....

This afternoon the boys were playing pretty decent together (and by decent I mean no screaming, yelling or fighting in the last 15 minutes) so I decided to run upstairs, put Ali down for a nap and then work on some sewing orders that needed done. In my head I was thinking 'just 10 minutes, that's all I need, 10 minutes to cut, pin and sew a couple things, that'll get me one step closer to the end goal'. So, I throw Ali in her crib (not really, but kind of) and run into my room. I start sewing...things are going beautifully, I can hear the boys playing nicely, laughing, playing "guys", being silly together. Then, I realize things are a little quieter, but I can still hear them, all is good. A few more minutes pass, I'm actually getting something done (this usually never happens, normally I don't even attempt to sew while the boys are running around b/c usually it doesn't work out.....again, the statement above "I shoulda known better"). Then I notice that it's reeeeeeally quiet and suddenly that mother's instinct kicks in. I literally jump up from my sewing chair and sprint down the stairs. And what do I see? Drew and Reed sitting on the floor (which right now is just the sub-floor/plywood; we have all the carpet and linoleum ripped up on the main level, getting ready to lay hardwood floors) playing with one of daddy's MANY tools that is lying around the house right now during this project. Now, of course they're not playing with pliers or a level, no...they're playing with one of those chalk line thingys and they have RED CHALK all over themselves, all over the floor, all over the wall, all over their clothes, their faces, their hands, their socks, tracked all over the ENTIRE first floor! YUP! If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a little tool that's used to chalk out lines for drywall, or any kind of measuring when building and it's this dark, dark red chalky substance that STAINS your hands and clothes and EVERYTHING it touches! I literally stood there speechless and had no idea what to say. I'm not gonna lie though, it didn't take me very long to figure out something to say!!!! I was gone for MAYBE 5 full minutes!!! The boys got an earfull and then they got stripped naked and I proceeded to use almost an entire package of wipes to clean them off because I was NOT going to go upstairs and run a bath and chance waking Ali up.

Wanna know what I did next? I called DADDY and said "Scott, remember last night when you were chalking out lines on the floor with that red chalk thing? Remember when I told you to make sure that you put it somewhere that the boys wouldn't find it and get into it? Remember when you said 'oh Erica, they won't get into that'.......? WELL, YOU WERE WRONG!"

Wanna know what daddy said? "seriously? did you get a picture?"

ARRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!!

I shoulda known better.....

ps- NO, I did NOT get a picture.

Weekend Fun

The weekend was an absolute blast! Getting out of this house and spending time away from my kids, with my sisters and mom, was exactly what the Dr. ordered! It was SO.NICE! I didn't even really get completely away since I had to meet up with Scott at least every 4 hours to feed Ali but still, it was seriously soooooo nice! Really it's the first time I've spent more than a couple of hours for myself since before I was pregnant with Ali, needless to say, I loved it! ;) Scott is such a good daddy and hubby! He's so good with the kids and he did such a good job holding down the fort while I was gone!

Friday night we tried out a new Mongolian BBQ place called Bang Bang! It was very yummy, good food, totally worth the money spent there! Then we just hung out in our hotel room Friday night, sat in the hot tub, talked, ate cheesecake and had a glass of wine...perfection! Saturday we shopped, got pedis/manis, shopped some more, ate lunch in Valley Junction, shopped some more, came home to be with all the kids and dads for trick-or-treating in our neighbrhood, then headed back out for Mexican to end our weekend together. It was so much fun.....our mom spoils us rotten!! =)

Highlights from my weekend:

-finding a pair of jeans at Kohls for 80% off (they were originally $40), trying them on, seeing that they fit perfect and paying $8 for them, suhweeet!!!

-eating my first cupcake from this place in Valley Junction...super, super yummy!

-laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and tears were streaming down my face

-The Tavern's onion rings

-finding a cute new shop at JC mall that I LOVED, can't remember the name...I think it was Francesca's....something?

-my mom surprising us each with a new purse and a new shirt...seriously, she's the best! Funny how a new purse, an $8 pair of jeans and a new shirt can just make a girl's day!